School Finances

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires that all districts report their per-pupil spending at every school, beginning with School Year 18-19. Districts are required to report the actual dollars spent, including school-level costs (like school staff) and district-wide costs (like transportation and central office staff) allocated to each individual school. Additionally, they must show the source of funds for the expenditures (federally-funded vs. state/locally-funded).

Districts prepare these school-by-school spending numbers using Reporting Guidance published by ISBE. The expenditures are reported as per-pupil amounts: they show the average amount of money spent on each student in the school. The enrollment used for per-pupil calculations is student FTE, meaning that students attending only part of each day are counted as proportional students in the count. The expenditures used for per-pupil calculations includes almost all the different expenditures made at the school and district level. Only certain expenditures like capital outlay (facilities, property, and major equipment purchases) and debt service are excluded from the total expenditures reported, as explained in Reporting Guidance. The expenditure information is not pulled from a district’s Annual Financial Report (AFR) but rather through a separate data collection specifically for site-based expenditure reporting. The AFR information is from a different year than site-based expenditure reporting and is collected for a different purpose, so AFR data may not be the same as the school-by-school spending data. For further information on how this reporting is calculated, please see the “Resources” tab of this explanation.

This school finance data set is best suited for comparisons within a district rather than across different districts. There are many reasons why a district may spend different amounts of money on different schools. This reporting is a starting point for understanding and exploring where dollars go within a district. The data may empower districts and communities to examine and improve equity of opportunity between individual schools. The data may also enable a better understanding of the relationship between student outcomes and financial resources. Finally, the data can encourage districts, schools, and the state to identify best practices and opportunities to promote innovation.

Because districts understand their own resource policies and practices best, they are best positioned to develop, interpret, and communicate their data. Therefore, ISBE encourages Report Card users to send their questions and thoughts on school finance data directly to their district. General questions on the Report Card itself can be directed to reportcard@isbe.net, and general questions on the site-based expenditure reporting requirement can be directed to site-based@isbe.net.

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) contains a requirement for districts to report school-level expenditure data, beginning with School Year 18-19 data. All districts and communities in Illinois and across the country now have unprecedented access to understand how financial resources are allocated across schools, allowing for deeper exploration of important topics such as resource equity and connections between spending and academic outcomes. Illinois is uniquely positioned to take advantage of this reporting because it aligns with other efforts within funding and school support systems in the state in pursuit of equity and fiscal and academic solvency – that is, balancing a system’s finances and its student needs so that the whole system can effectively support students through strategic resource allocation.

An advisory group made up of education leaders across the state, including many district superintendents and business officials, guided the Illinois approach to this reporting requirement. As the advisory group developed its approach, it kept in mind that districts have the best understanding of their resourcing policies and practices and are therefore best positioned to develop, interpret, and communicate their data.

As a result, questions regarding any district’s data shown in this reporting should be addressed to the district directly. Questions regarding the Report Card itself can be directed to ISBE at reportcard@isbe.net. Questions regarding the site-based expenditure reporting requirement at large can be directed to ISBE at site-based@isbe.net. This reporting initiative can and will evolve over years, as the state, districts, and communities evaluate the value of this reporting.